Tensions rise as war planes overfly Gaza

Israeli war planes increased tensions in the Gaza Strip yesterday by overflying the area throughout the day. This followed an exchange of fire between Palestinians and Israelis near the Netzarim settlement bloc at the southern end of the strip. One Israeli and three Palestinians were wounded.

Palestinians were already tense, expecting a heavy bombardment on Saturday night after five Israeli settler youths were wounded in a mortar attack on the same settlement. However, this did not materialise, leaving the populace in suspense.

In an effort to reimpose his authority on Gaza, the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, reissued a week-old command to stop the firing of mortar shells at Israeli settlements and ordered the dissolution of a unit in his mainstream Fateh movement which claimed credit for weekend mortar attacks. However, at least two mortar barrages were launched after Mr Arafat took this action, demonstrating that he seems to have lost control over armed groups within Fateh as well as outside the movement.

Mr Arafat's security agents also detained a leading spokesman of the Islamic Hamas organisation, Dr Abdel Aziz Rantissi, on Saturday night. During a mass rally at the Jabalia refugee camp in the strip, Dr Rantissi declared that Hamas was opposed to the Jordanian-Egyptian peace initiative and, brandishing an assault rifle, cried: "This is our path."

Dr Rantissi was arrested for "criticising and threatening" the Palestinian Authority which freed him from detention only a few weeks ago. Hamas leaders met yesterday to discuss the detention.

Dr Eyad al-Sarraj, chairman of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme and an advocate of non-violent resistance, said Palestinians were in two minds about continuing the seven-month intifada.

On the one hand, they want the armed struggle to end because more than 700 Palestinians have been killed since September and Israel's economic blockade has devastated the Palestinian economy, driving two thirds of the populace well below what Dr Sarraj called the "Palestinian poverty line" of $700-$800 per capita per year.

On the other hand, ordinary Palestinians support armed action against Israel because they see it as the "only way to achieve liberation", according to Dr Sarraj.

"They have no hope that negotiations will bring substantial improvement. The alternative to fighting is to live in shame under occupation and accept it."

He believes that non-violent resistance would be "much more effective" than violence but does not see the Palestinian people accepting this means of struggle.

Dr Ziad Abu Amr, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Assembly for Gaza and head of the Palestinian Council on Foreign Affairs, said few Palestinians were prepared to end the intifada unless Israel agreed to a total freeze on settlement activity and a resumption of negotiations at the point where they were broken off at the end of January - two fundamental Palestinian demands which Israel rejects.

"Palestinians are ready to go back to subsistence level living rather than halt the intifada. All the lives lost, all their sufferings and sacrifices will be in vain if the intifada is halted without achieving their demands," said Dr Abu Amr.